Image Credit: TVA / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Tennessee Valley Authority issued an apology last week for the power issues faced by customers over Christmas weekend. TVA says the rolling blackouts were a first in the corporation’s 90 years of service.
According to the TVA, the cold temperatures that blanketed most of the state created a strain on the power grid, leading it to force local power companies to institute temporary blackouts to reduce the electricity load for two hours and 15 minutes on Friday, December 23 and another five hours and 40 minutes on Saturday, December 24.
Many Tennessee residents were without power for an extended period of time during those temporary energy load reductions.
TVA stated that they assumed full responsibility for the problem.
“We are conducting a thorough review of what occurred and why,” TVA released in a statement. “We are committed to sharing these lessons learned and – more importantly – the corrective actions we take in the weeks ahead to ensure we are prepared to manage significant events in the future.”
While TVA has not released any official word on what caused the need for the blackouts, the Commercial Appeal reported that TVA told local electric companies that failing natural gas plants and two coal power plants, along with problems with third-party plants that were supposed to be on standby, created an issue with their electrical supply.
Don Moul, TVA Chief Operating Officer, told The Tennessean that energy demands were up almost 35% on the coldest days. Those same temperatures that increased energy needs also left TVA energy plants struggling to churn out enough power to meet those needs.
Residents across Tennessee were upset with the limited amount of warning they received before the blackouts started, and TVA CEO Jeff Lyash acknowledged that they could have done a better job of communicating with local power companies.
“I will tell you I think communications from TVA to local power companies, to local officials, industrial customers could have been better and there are gaps there,” he said.
“It is TVA’s very objective and that of our local power companies, each and every one of those 153 local power companies, never to interrupt your power. That’s what we strive for. And occasionally we fall short of that. And, obviously, we fell short of that, in this case,” Lyash stated during a conference call with state officials.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
4 Responses
TVA CEO and execs are GROSSLY overpaid. They’re TRASH!! Caved to the green pukes.
TVA’s apologies are helpful . . . HOW???
WE have let BIDEN and the CLIMAT CHANGE FOOLS shut down our coal fired plants all over the country. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN, they say it is for the climate, we shut our plants down, and other countries are building new ones. CHINA INDIA and a host of other countries are building new coal fried plants. NOT only are our energy bills going to take more of people money, we will end up with more power outages. THIS PIE in the sky idea the climate change folks are pushing, will fail big time, what happens when enough of these EVs starting charging in the summer time when all the A/C units are running. PEOPLE had better wake up and put a stop to this before it cost lives.
If this is not a wake up call to people that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Then I don’t know what it will take to wake people up. Cutting down their own trees and burning them to stay warm. This climate chance agenda is part of the WEF one world government. Tennessee stop electing officials that want to sell you out!